“In the Shadow of the CMS”

Kyle Chayka, in The Nation, shares a piece chronicling how content management systems shape current media now and in the futureIt’s an interesting, thoughtful read.

CMSs are like digital printing presses: They determine how journalism gets published online. But unlike the printing press, CMSs also increasingly influence not just how stories look but how they are produced, discovered, read, and monetized. To attempt another comparison: If an article is like a bag of chips for the consumer, then a CMS is like the vending machine. CMSs shape every media company from top to bottom, publisher to reader.